Ralph Dellor reports on the first match of the tour

England opened their tour of Zimbabwe with a 138-run victory in their warm-up match against Zimbabwe A at the picturesque Alexandra Sports Club near the centre of Harare.

England won the toss and decided to bat under sunny skies. Zimbabwe A made an early breakthrough, as Pommie Mbangwa, ignored by the national selectors for the past year, slipped a slow yorker under the bat of Marcus Trescothick to bowl him for 4 in the first over.

Some rather profligate batting followed: Nick Knight (22) and Nasser Hussain (6) were both bowled going for big hits, while Mark Ramprakash (2) and Andrew Flintoff (1) were also caught indulging in misguided aggression. At 61 for five, it appeared that discretion did not feature in England's game plan, as Trescothick was the only batsman so far not to throw his wicket away. England had clearly not yet acclimatized, but all the more reason to look to spend time at the wicket.

Graham Thorpe and Ben Hollioake steadied the ship while keeping the singles coming. Their sensible batting showed what the other specialist batsmen could have done with greater application. They added 158 for the sixth wicket with much judicious running between wickets before Hollioake (61) hit Sean Ervine straight to mid-on to be caught; Thorpe followed in Ervine's next over for 95, holing out to long-on.

England were now 224 for seven in the 47th over. Jeremy Snape hit some lusty blows, including a flat six in the final over bowled by Dirk Viljoen, to finish with 27 not out.

Matthew Hoggard struck quickly for the tourists when Zimbabwe A batted, dismissing Guy Croxford (1) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (1) in his first two overs. Then James Kirtley stepped in, ripping through Doug Marillier's defences to bowl him for a single, and Zimbabwe A, who have excelled the national team at times for disastrous collapses, were 16 for three.

The experienced captain Gavin Rennie found assistance from Dirk Viljoen and a face-saving partnership looked in the offing until Trescothick came on to bowl and Viljoen immediately hit a long hop down to long leg. Flintoff misjudged it and then recovered to take a remarkable one-handed catch high above his head. Viljoen made 13, and Rennie soon followed, bowled by Snape for 28; Zimbabwe A 51 for five.

At least they did not collapse for one of their not uncommon two-figure scores, and Henry Olonga, strangely given only two overs of bowling earlier, brought up the hundred with a huge on-driven six off Ramprakash; he followed it with another off Snape to give the small Monday crowd some entertainment as the game quietly died. Six bowlers shared the wickets, with the accolade perhaps to Hoggard (2/9) for his early breakthrough.

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